Stripe, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/17) */
Disputes can be a frustrating part of accepting credit card payments, and Stripe does everything possible to protect our users from fraud and make sure they have an advantage during the disputes processThat said, Stripe does not have the
ability to resolve disputes for our users, or make decisions about who wins or losesWhile Stripe provides tools to our users for submitting evidence, the process is actually arbitrated by their end-customer's card-issuing bank
As a matter of clarification, Stripe does not authorize charges for our usersMuch like the disputes process, we pass *** relevant information to the card-issuing bank, who then authorize or decline the chargeThe erratic behavior the complainant describes is indicative of attempted fraudulent charges (a fraudster attempting many stolen credit card numbers until one works), as she notesWe advise our users to be watchful for these types of situations, and not to ship merchandise when they observe fraudulent activityIn this case, it appears the complainant didn't look at payment history before shipping the merchandise
We have many fraud prevention measures in place, including a machine learning-based fraud shield, and the ability to decline suspicious payments even if they are authorized by the bankThese tools exist to help our users protect themselves, but they still require activation by the user, and don't represent a fully-automated solutionRegardless of the software in place to protect our users from fraud, they will always need to protect themselves by monitoring for fraudulent activity before shipping merchandise
In order to resolve a fraudulent dispute in their own favor, our users need to submit evidence that the disputed charge was made by an authorized cardholderWe pass *** information along to the card-issuing bank, who arbitrates the dispute and renders a verdictHowever, if the charge was clearly made fraudulently, as the complainant indicates, users is liable for the disputed amountThe credit card networks assign liability for accepting fraudulent online transactions to businesses
Stripe is not in a position to cover the cost of disputed funds for our usersOur terms explicitly state that users are "immediately liable for to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties." Our terms further state that "Stripe may provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help you contest your ChargebacksWe do not assume any liability for our role or assistance in contesting Chargebacks." Our users accept these terms when they create their Stripe accountsMore information can be found in our terms of service, here: https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
Disputes are a frustrating reality of accepting credit card payments, especially onlineWe try to give our users the best chance to avoid these situations, but ultimately Stripe can't accept responsibility for authorizing fraudulent payments (as card-issuing banks authorize charges)We are happy to help the complainant avoid future disputes - we can always be contacted at ***@stripe.com
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/07/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Seeking refund and clearer ofor fraud protectionIf it's not a charged or premium service, why is it even an option? Why not automatically provide for all customers upon sign up? It's as if their system is set up to fail customersNegligent business practices
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/07/28) */
Stripe is a payments processor and doesn't guarantee protection against fraudOur machine learning-based fraud shield works for all users protects against most but not all fraudulent chargesFurthermore, we provide users the option to decline suspicious payments even if they are authorized by the bank, e.gauto-declines for failed CVC or AVS checksThis option is not always desired from our usersTherefore, we keep it optionalThe complainant did not avail of this optionThis failure resulted in charges being processed which didn't pass *** or AVS checks
We notified the complainant of this fact on 5th June:
"I looked over your account and noticed that several charges are getting through with a failed CVC or AVS checkI recommend turning on auto-declines for CVC checks in the very least as this can greatly reduce the number of fraudulent charges you're faced withYou can turn those on here: https://dashboard.stripe.com/account
If you would like further information on how to detect and prevent fraud then I recommend taking a look at this link: https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes"
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/07/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The Stripe fraud shield is inherently flawedEven in their explanation that it protects against "most but not all fraudulent charges." If this was clearly made known to users PRIOR to sign-up, I would venture to guess that most users would not opt to use StripeAlso, the notification to me on the 5th was after the fact and only gave advice on future transactionsNo help at allThis company is negligent

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2015/07/24) */
Disputes can be a frustrating part of accepting credit card payments, and Stripe does everything possible to make sure our users have an advantage during the disputes processThat said, Stripe does not have the ability to resolve disputes for
our users, or make decisions about who wins or losesStripe provides tools to our users for submitting evidence to their customers' card-issuer, but that issuer is the entity who arbitrates the process, not Stripe
Using Stripe as a payments processor does not relieve the complainant of their contractual obligations to bear the responsibility for preventing fraud on their accountThis procedure is in accordance with the following sections of our Terms of Service, which can also be found at https://stripe.com/us/terms and more specifically https://stripe.com/us/terms#receiving-your-funds-from-card-transactions ("You are responsible for refunds, returns, and liable for customer disputes (chargebacks).")
Additional relevant terms agreed to by the complainant:
https://stripe.com/us/terms#payment-methods
https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
Section Cof Stripes Terms of Service states:
"When a Chargeback is issued, you are immediately liable to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties (including those assessed by the Card Networks or our payment processors)You agree that Stripe may recover these amounts by debiting by means of ACH debit of your Bank Account associated with your Stripe Account, debiting your Reserve Account, or setting off any amounts owed to you by usIf we are unable to recover funds related to a Chargeback for which you are liable, you will pay us the full amount of the Chargeback immediately upon demandYou agree to pay all costs and expenses, including without limitation attorneys' fees and other legal expenses, incurred by or on behalf of us in connection with the collection of any unpaid Chargebacks unpaid by you."
We also pride ourselves on having as much documentation for our users as we possibly canOne area of focus is fraud and dispute prevention, and we clearly mention steps for our users to take in order to prevent this exact type of situation:
https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes#identifying-pot...⇄ /> While we understand the stress this situation has caused the complainant, our Terms of Service and documentation are very clear that the ultimate responsibility for preventing fraud falls on our users
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 13, 2015/07/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
If I would have known I would be held accountable for faults in their system that allows fraud to take place then I never would have used them as a payment portalFor several years I have been using PayPal and have never had a problem like this and what happened with stripe happened twice within a matter of weeksFor them to let this happen twice in such a short period of time shows that stripe does not monitor payments to the extent that they shouldAfter this happened to me I had read quite a few comments from disturbed customers that had previously used stripeI run a very small business and this will totally tank everything I have worked for the past few yearsI am not a corporation and I definitely am not rich nor can I afford to take such a huge hit when I did exactly what I was suppose to do from a business standpointStripe does not care about their customers and is only worried about themselvesIf you are going to run a payment portal then your very first priority should be protecting people from fraudulent activity and that is clearly not the case in my situation
Final Business Response /* (4000, 18, 2015/08/26) */
The complainant signed up for Stripe on August 2014, with the intention of using Stripe to process payments for products with the average payment size of $It is worth noting that merchandise that is so high-value can be particularly targeted for fraud
On October 4th, Stripe informed the complainant that a dispute had been filed for $782.00, and they sent a number of follow up emails that day asking for clarification about why this had happenedOn October 7th, Stripe responded to the complainant with a detailed response about how to handle this dispute, why it may have occurred, and the next steps to avoid these again in futureIt was acknowledged that as the CVC, street address, and zipcode checks passed, the complainant had a strong case to win the disputeIt was also recommended that the complainant should hold off on shipping products to unexpected locations (in this case Indonesia) before confirming the address with their customer to help prevent chargebacks in future
It was explained that Stripe has a team working full-time to help shield our users from fraudulent charges, but there is unfortunately no way we, or any bank or processor, could guarantee to never let any fraudulent charges go through, unless we also blocked 100% of legitimate salesIt was also noted that Stripe rely on our users' best judgement, as this individual knows their business and customers better than we do
As a matter of clarification, Stripe is not responsible for fraudulent charges processed by users' accountsMuch like the disputes process, we pass *** relevant information to the card-issuing bank, who then authorize or decline the chargeWe have many fraud prevention measures in place, including allowing users the ability to refund suspicious payments even if they are authorized by the bankThese tools exist to help our users protect themselvesIndeed, this dispute (and another for the same amount by the complainant) was won due to the evidence provided regarding the security checks that passed
Stripe is not in a position to cover the cost of disputed funds for our usersOur terms explicitly state that users are "immediately liable for to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties." Our terms further state that "Stripe may provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help you contest your ChargebacksWe do not assume any liability for our role or assistance in contesting Chargebacks." Our users accept these terms when they create their Stripe accountsMore information can be found in our terms of service, here:
https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
Disputes are a frustrating reality of accepting credit card payments, especially onlineWe try to give our users the best chance to avoid these situations, but ultimately Stripe will not accept responsibility for fraudulent paymentsWe are happy to help the complainant avoid future disputes, and can always be contacted at ***@stripe.com

Per Stripe's Terms of Service:"We may impose a Reserve on you for any reason if we determine that the risk of loss to Stripe, Customers, or others associated with your Stripe Account is higher than normalFor example, we may hold a Reserve if: your or your Customers’ activities increase the risk of loss to us or to your Customers, (ii) you have violated or are likely to violate this Agreement, and (iii) your Stripe Account has an elevated or abnormally high number of Disputes."***The funds in the Complainant's balance are at high risk for being disputedIf the funds are not disputed, they will be released on June 6, 2018.For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/27) */
Stripe's primary function is to process payments; we do not guarantee against fraudAlthough we offer our merchants the option of auto-declines for charges that fail the zip code and CVC checks, this is not 100% fraud proof
The
charges here were disputed and ruled in favour of the cardholder as their bank decided that the charge was not authorized by the cardholderThe complainant reached out to us on November 20th regarding fraudulent payments made on their Stripe accountWe replied later the following day informing them that the shipping address and zip code differed slightly from the verified zip code on the credit card used to make the payment in questionWe informed the complainant that it is very difficult to win a dispute if the shipping address differs from any of the card details, and it was most likely this difference that caused the bank to decide in the client's favour as this is most likely a case of stolen card information
We also recommended that, if the complainant ever suspected a charge to be fraudulent in future, they should refund it immediately and not fulfill the orderIn doing this they will avoid a chargeback as disputes cannot be initiated against fully refunded chargesWe also offered the following guide with preventative measures: https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes
As a matter of clarification, Stripe is not responsible for fraudulent charges processed by users' accountsMuch like the disputes process, we pass *** relevant information (including the CVC, street check, and ZIP checks the user mentions in his complaint) to the card-issuing bank, who then authorize or decline the chargeWe have many fraud prevention measures in place, including allowing users the ability to refund suspicious payments even if they are authorized by the bankThese tools exist to help our users protect themselves
Stripe is not in a position to cover the cost of disputed funds for our usersOur terms explicitly state that users are "immediately liable for to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties." Our terms further state that "Stripe *** provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help you contest your ChargebacksWe do not assume any liability for our role or assistance in contesting Chargebacks." Our users accept these terms when they create their Stripe accountsMore information can be found in our terms of service, here: https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
Saying that, we completely understand that disputes are a frustrating reality of accepting credit card payments, especially online, and it's a shame that this user was an unfortunate victim of these fraudulent attacksWe try to give our users the best chance to avoid these situations, but ultimately Stripe will not accept responsibility for fraudulent paymentsWe are currently in discussion with the complainant regarding ways to avoid disputes in future, and can always be contacted at ***@stripe.com
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/12/15) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
First, Stripe is very negligent in the services provided to his clientsThere is absolutely no secure feature implemented in their system at allAny serious company will log you out after a certain period of inactivityYou can go to bed, or close your browser, and come back to your Stripe account without having to input any password
Second , lets break down the reply from stripe:
Statement 1: "Stripe's primary function is to process payments; we do not guarantee against fraudAlthough we offer our merchants the option of auto-declines for charges that fail the zip code and CVC checks, this is not 100% fraud proof"
Stripe advertises itself as a company you can trust, when you land on their "Feature page", one of their key future at the bottom of their page is: "Proven fraud protection...Stripe actively works to protect your business from fraudulent charges and monitors suspicious transactions."
Statement 2: "We informed the complainant that it is very difficult to win a dispute if the shipping address differs from any of the card details, and it was most likely this difference that caused the bank to decide in the client's favour as this is most likely a case of stolen card information."
The merchants you work with and who trust you deserve a feature implemented in your website that warn them about possible fraud since stripe is the one who first have contact the buyer or credit/debit card informationIt should not be the other way aroundMost of the merchants are newbies who rely on your service because you sell yourself as a secure business
Statement 3: "As a matter of clarification, Stripe is not responsible for fraudulent charges processed by users' accountsMuch like the disputes process, we pass *** relevant information (including the CVC, street check, and ZIP checks the user mentions in his complaint) to the card-issuing bank, who then authorize or decline the charge"
However on 11/11/Stripe responded to another complainant but stated the contrary
"Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise."
- See more at: http://www.Revdex.com.org/greater-san-francisco/business-reviews/payment-process...⇄ /> So which one is it? Stripe is simply trying to make excuses right and left like kids playing aroundThey don't have any real solution
Stripe refuses to pass *** information from bank or customer to me to further try to resolve the matter, I can't even reach out to the bank directlyWhen I ask for information to reach the bank directly this is the answer I got from stripe: "Unfortunately, I don't have further information to provide to you on this dispute's status or the reasons for your customer's bank decision, aside from what we provide in the dashboardI wish we were able to provide more transparency, but we're only able to share the information that we get from the bank as they work through the dispute on their end."
What kind of middle man business is that?
I don't even know for sure whether there was a dispute by a bankMaybe the merchants are being played around by Stripe themselvesI have had my business bank account closed so far because of Stripe's withdrawal and chargeback fees total $
I need Stripe to be held accountable for that amount and refund me ($includes all fees charged by bank) to repay the bank because the bank send my name to collection and I have to pay for something caused by StripeAnd also balance my Stripe account which is negative and still attempting to hit my bank account to withdraw more money based on this same matter
Stripe screw my business, my name, my credit and they don't careYour sorry is not enough
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/12/22) */
We understand disputes are a frustrating part of running an online businessIn our most recent exchanges with the complainant on 11/24/and 11/25/15, we provided very specific feedback on the disputed charges and why the complainant lost the disputeWe are happy to answer any additional questions from the complainant should they email us back at ***@stripe.comHowever, we cannot provide that information through the public forum on the Revdex.com websiteAdditionally, Stripe provides tools to help our users submit dispute evidence to banks, but the ultimate decision on a dispute lies with the cardholder's bank and not with Stripe
In general, we recommend merchants contact their customers first to try to resolve disputesSpecific recommendations based on dispute type can be found in our comprehensive support documentation, for example: https://stripe.com/help/dispute-types#fraudulent
Again, we are happy to answer any specific questions about disputes at: ***@stripe.comOutside of that, our Terms of Service are clear that responsibility for disputes and chargebacks lies with the complainant
Complaint Response Date bumped because: Holiday
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2016/01/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Telling me why "you think" I lost the dispute is not a specific feedbackAs a middleman you should be able to provide me with all the specifics as to how the dispute was handled and how to reach the other parties involved, you withheld all information and keep speculatingI have no way of knowing whether or not there was a disputeI don't even know what bank was involved and if the card was indeed stolen, who was the real owner of the card
Also, based on how Stripe is so negligent in allowing fraudulent transactions to take place, not providing the "secure" services they advertise, then masked themselves behind a frivolous "terms and Policy", the responsibility should be on stripeIt does not matter what your T&P says, if you fail to provide the service you advertise, you break your contract and therefore you are fully liable for these fraudulent transactionsYou advertise " Seamless Security: Stripe provide security and compliance without the headache..." That is what Stripe stated in your website, but you have absolutely no security feature implementedIf this issue is not resolved through Revdex.com, and I don't get all my money back my next step will be to take legal action and make sure you also pay for damagesSomeone obviously has to call you outYou hit the wrong targetOwn your failure or mistake Stripe

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/08/12) */
The complainant contacted the Stripe support team on May 30, 2014, regarding a chargeback the complainant received, inquiring as to whether Stripe provides chargeback insuranceThe Stripe support team responded to explain the
dispute-related services and prevention measures available, which does not include chargeback insurance at this timeThe support team member at Stripe provided information to the complainant regarding specific steps available in their Stripe account for preventing disputes in the future, such as automatically declining incoming charges that fail CVC and ZIP code checks
The complainant contacted Stripe on June 12, 2014, stating that another dispute had been receivedThe Stripe support team responded to the complainant with information on the overall process of handling a dispute, as well as a link to documentation specifically geared to the reason code for this disputeThe complainant expressed dissatisfaction with the available options for dealing with chargebacks, at this point, to which the support team member replied with apologies and confirmation that the evidence for the dispute response was submitted
On July 2, 2014, the complainant contacted Stripe support again regarding chargebacks, expressing dissatisfaction with the services available to themA Stripe support team member replied to the complainant promptly on July 2, 2014, with a detailed explanation of the factors surrounding the most recent set of cases on the accountStripe's response included detailed information about the specific zip codes provided to Stripe and verified by our service, which contrasted with the tracking address for the product shipments in questionDifferent addresses for shipping and billing can be a flag for fraud, as noted to the complainant by the Stripe team member in this replyPrevious emails sent to this user by other Stripe team members (on June and June 15) similarly noted that Stripe is not provided with the shipping address the users sees, only the billing address details that are being passed ** by the third party platformThis team member also offered to set up a time to speak with the complainant over the phone at this point, to further discuss the case, as needed
On July 16, 2014, the complainant replied, stating that a report with the Revdex.com would be raised, expressing frustration with the caseThe complainant also provided their phone number for a discussion to take place over the phoneA Stripe support team member replied promptly to this note, on July 16, 2014, asking to schedule a call time, and noting again the shipping address verification issue with the charges in question
The complainant replied on July 29, 2014, regarding a new disputeA Stripe support team member replied promptly to this message, on July 29, 2014, with an overview of the ongoing issue regarding a lack of proper comparison options available to the user between the billing and shipping address' on the third-party platform's endSpecifically, the team member noted that the third party platform does not collect the complete billing street address, so this information is not available for verificationIt was also stressed that Stripe has no control over the third party platform, and if the complainant was experiencing issues due to the platform's policies, they should reach out to the platform directlyThe team member additionally reached out to the third party platform to notify them of the issues experienced by their usersThe complainant, to date, has not replied to this final message from Stripe
In short, the Stripe support team was responsive to the complainant's inquiries, explaining all of the available options regarding chargeback evidence and protection, additionally offering to schedule a phone call with the complainant to discuss their specific issues furtherThis was an unusual step, as the Stripe team does not provide incoming phone support
The $fee the complainant notes for chargebacks is a fee for which Stripe is responsible when a chargeback occurs, and cannot be refunded, except in the case that the customer wins the disputeIn such cases, the $chargeback fee is refunded in fullThis information is readily available on the Stripe website, and also was clearly communicated via email to the complainant in the correspondence
The Stripe support team is available 24/via email to provide assistance to its users, i.ethe complainant, and works to assist all users with submitting ample and appropriate evidence to customers' banks in response to chargebacks, additionally providing steps toward preventing chargebacks from occurring
The following sections of Stripe's terms of service and fee schedule relate to chargebacks, and are available publiclyBy creating a Stripe account, users agree to these terms and fees:
https://stripe.com/us/terms#receiving-your-funds-from-card-transactions
https://stripe.com/us/terms#payment-methods
https://stripe.com/us/terms#processing-card-transactions
https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks
https://stripe.com/us/terms#contesting-your-chargebacks
https://stripe.com/us/terms#excessive-chargebacks
https://stripe.com/us/pricing

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/09) */
Stripe processes credit cards for thousands of businesses online (https://stripe.com/gallery)It looks like the complainant made a payment on one of these businesses' sites, and for some reason Stripe's details have shown up instead of the
merchant's on the complainant's credit card statement
As of today, 1/9/2016, the complainant has not reached out to ***@stripe.com for help on how to proceed with this issueFor inquiries about a specific payment, we typically recommend that the customer reach out to the company that they purchased from to resolve the issueIf the complainant does not receive a satisfactory response from the merchant, or as the complainant experienced in this instance, the merchant is unresponsive, then we would typically recommend the complainant consult with their bank or credit card company to review their options for the payment in question
That said, Stripe takes instances of merchant fraud very seriouslyStripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about merchants' legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues ariseIn this case, we have reviewed the Stripe account in question and taken the appropriate actions
We would be happy to answer any questions that the complainant might have at ***@stripe.com

The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on the 19th of *** *** under the name "***" at www.***.com Stripe processed payments for the account owner until the 27th of *** ***During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the Complainant's
account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceSpecifically, Stripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardThe majority of the Complainant’s business seemed to be driven through unauthorized, fraudulent chargesOn *** 27, ***, Stripe reached out to the Complainant to let them know about its concerns and that it could no longer support their business. Stripe has taken this opportunity to further review the state of the Complainant's accountUpon further investigation, Stripe has found that the account was closed due to a positive by it's fraud toolingIn light of these findings, Stripe has reinstated this account; the Complainant is welcome to continue using Stripe and should find that their account will function normallyStripe apologizes for any inconvenience that this has caused the Complainantpositives like this are rare, and Stripe takes them very seriously
Addressing the Complainants concern with the delay in payouts, by default a Stripe account will be set to automatically payout an account balance on a regular scheduleThe first payout will be initiated and should post within daysThat default schedule for future payouts does depends on your countryFor some users in some countries that can be as little as two days, however for users in higher-risk industries they will continue to be on a day rolling payout schedule for all future payouts
For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,Brendan ***

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/22) */
Stripe takes security very seriously and appreciates the complainant raising this concern, as it appears they've received a fraudulent email from someone attempting to pose as StripeAfter reviewing Stripe's email logs, no record of such an
email sent to ***@gmail.com was foundAs with any suspicious email, the complainant should not click on any links in such an email, or take any action that they've directed the complainant to take
These types of security attacks are most commonly known as "phishing", and consist of someone masquerading as a different person or Stripe in this case in an attempt to mislead the target into giving out their personal details, account login credentials, or other sensitive informationThe most common way of doing this is by having the individual click a link that leads to a fake websiteStripe's emails are always sent out in plain text without any special formatting or hypertext links, so if the complainant ever sees either of these things, it's a good sign that the email might be a phishing attempt
Additionally, if the complainant is a Stripe user, the complainant can always verify whether or not the email they received from Stripe was legitimate by logging into their Stripe account and checking to see if the information in the email matches up with itWhenever Stripe sends an alert or asks a user for information through email notification, we'll also place a prompt in their dashboard at:
https://dashboard.stripe.com
Still, the most powerful way to fight these attacks is to be aware that they exist, and aware of the red flags that signify that an email isn't from the sender it purports to be fromThe link below has a little more information about how phishing works, as well as different ways to defend against it:
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/phishing.htm
Stripe apologizes for the confusion here and hopes this information clarifies the complainant's concernTo help protect other individuals from phishing attacks from this email, Stripe would encourage the complainant to forward the email in question to ***@stripe.com to report the instance
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/01/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2014/06/25) */
The user created an account with Stripe in March Since that time, the merchant has processed several thousand dollarsWhen we contacted the merchant on May 28th, the account had a chargeback rate of 5.56% by transaction countWe
told the user that we couldn't support businesses with his dispute rate, and offered days to continue processing with Stripe as he transitioned to a new payment providerGiven the number of customer disputes, we also informed the user that we would need to hold a temporary reserve on the account's balance to protect against additional chargebacksWe've communicated to the merchant that we'll release the remaining funds on August 4th if his chargeback rate remains stableSince originally contacting the user, additional customers have disputed paymentsThe account now has a chargeback rate of 13.89% and we will need to continue to hold the current reserve to cover future chargebacks until August 4th
In the user's case description, he mentions that Stripe issued a negative debit as a result of a chargeback on his accountThe merchant can read more about the dispute process and negative debits here:
https://stripe.com/terms#chargebacks
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2014/06/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
As for the chargeback rate, this was due to the customers not recognizing the statement descriptionI had a previous customer who had charged back told me she did not recognize the statementIt was Stripe, Incand a bunch of numbersI had tried it myself and it too was Stripe, Incand a bunch of numberThe company was 'Stripe, Inc.' my bank teller had told meThe customer had sent me a check - which proves I did offer legit service, and the chargeback rate has nothing to do with the service providedI understand there is a hold on the fundsI was emailed by *** *** on May XX X:XX AM with news that I cannot use Stripe, Incanymore which further legally indicates that the agreement between Stripe, Incand I was terminated, yet Stripe, Incstill wants to hold the funds
If my agreement with Stripe, Incis terminated, they have no Legal Jurisdiction over the funds in my balanceStripe, Incdoes not act as a bank, so in the State of California, they do not have the Legal Right, under State Jurisdiction, to hold any funds longer than daysStripe, Incis licensed as a money transmitter, who is only licensed to hold funds for days
Please Refer to the California Financial Code Section 2100-
AB-Money Transmissions Assembly Bill NoChapter
"Existing law requires a licensee or its agent to forward all money received for transmission or give instructions committing equivalent money to the person designated by the customer within days after receiving that money, unless otherwise ordered by the customerIn the case of money received for transmission, existing law requires a receipt to be provided by a licensee or its agent to all customers and requires the receipt to include a specified statement in this regard."
As for the debit
I had specifically asked Stripe, Incsupport on March 24th 5:sending to *** ***
"I have another question - is there any way I could be scammed? Is there any way this guy I am working with can social engineer Stripe and put me into a legal situation? Such as sending payments to my bank, sending it to him, and then having a customer chargeback? It is almost like crediting his card for $Receiving the $as we split it, and then charging back - thus resulting in $in his bank account and a dispute in my name, linked to my bank account on Stripe."
I had asked IF this situation would EVER happensuch as my business partner crediting random credit cards, taking the money once I get it, and then sending it to himHe keeps that money...whereas on my side, the credit card owner doesn't know anything about his business and they dispute against the charge and it debits from my bank accountAlmost as if he stole the credit card, processed a charge without the owners behalf, and then keeping the money
That is what I had explained to *** *** Stripe Supportthe email is above
I had gotten a reply from *** *** on March XX XXXX X:XX PM with this
"Hey ***,
Thanks for writingI totally understand your desire for caution here, when dealing with sensitive financial and personal informationThe situation you describe couldn't happen howeverI see that aside from yourself as the account owner and administrator, you have only one team member in your Stripe account
And the access level of that team member is set to Read & WriteThis means they won't have access to your account settings in any way, and would not be able to alter the bank account saved in your Stripe settings, nor would they be able to send funds from your Stripe account balance to their own bank account, (1.b) and it's not possible to use Stripe to withdraw funds from a person's actual bank accountMake sense?"
Why did David tell me 'this situation couldn't happen' (the situation being Stripe, Inccan take money out of my account because the business partner used stolen credit cards and processed them) when it did when I had received a chargeback?
Stripe, Inchad bounced my account when they had debited my account, AFTER *** said that could never happenHe said Stripe, Incdoes not have access to withdraw funds from a person's actual bank account (see 1.B)
So in summary, I had asked Stripe, Incif they had access to my bank account in the case if their were stolen credit card charges charged back, and *** said noBut on April 25th, Stripe, Inctook from my bank account, after *** said they didn't have access to withdraw
It is not a Right to just debit someone's bank account after the customer (me) is told it would not happen
I appreciate Stripe, Inc., and I understand their concern but they are going beyond their limits of what they have the Legal Right to do in the State of CaliforniaOver and over again, day by day, you see Stripe, Incholding funds and new Revdex.com complaints are being opened
I have no problem with, and agree to leaving a balance of $for credit card charge-back purposes until August 4thBe aware that replying with the standard "this is part of the terms of service that you agreed to" will not satisfy my request, or deter me from filling further complaints with both The California Office of Attorney General or The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney GeneralI need to continue my business
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2014/07/15) */
In some cases, a customer might see "Stripe, Inc" on their statement, but this is only for charges made on an American Express cardAll disputes associated with this account, are either Visa or Mastercard, which do not exhibit this statement behavior
Regarding holding of funds we will indeed transfer the funds on August 4th, It's worth mentioning, that we cover the possibility of a reserve in our terms of service (https://stripe.com/us/terms)
It's worth noting, that the funds are currently being held by our banking partners, and allocated for this businessStripe is not holding the funds in our name
Regarding social engineering our representative was not referring to Stripe not being able to withdraw funds, he was referring to another user or business partner that has read/write access to the account not being able to withdraw fundsThere is some confusion here regarding the question that was askedThe question, as stated, was if a business partner could transfer/debit funds, not StripeAgain, our representative replied saying that a user with read/write access would not be able to change the account number to misroute fundsOnce a Stripe user agrees to our terms, they also agree to allow us to either debit or credit, via ACH, their bank account on file

Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by *** *** (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on June 19, ***
On June 5, ***, Stripe wrote to the Complainant to let them know about it's concernsIn this email, Stripe offered the option to have it revisit their account and to rereview themStripe reviewed the information submitted by the Complainant and determined that it was still unable to support themTheir account was reviewed a third time as a result of this complaint, and the same decision was met
Stripe's Service Agreement states,
"We reserve the right to change the Payout Schedule or to suspend Transfers to you: (i) due to pending, anticipated, or excessive Disputes, Refunds, or Reversals; (ii) in the event of we suspected or actual suspicious activity; or (iii) where we are required by Laws or court orderWe have the right to withhold Transfers to your Payout Account upon termination of this Agreement if we reasonably determine that we may incur losses resulting from credit, fraud, or other legal risks associated with your Stripe Account."
https://stripe.com/us/legal#transfers-and-transfer-schedule
For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because: Stripe is claiming I'm referring to the mass DDOS that effected them and caused this issue- I'm not even referring to that technical issueI'm referring to the one where our dashboards & payments were outdated where stripe literally put up a giant notice across their site saying they were- Since stripe's screwup lead to the payments not showing up my accountant was unable to refund them, and since we do daily refunds, my accountant never was aware there were transactions needing refunded because they didn't show up on our dashboard nor our transactions, then thinking everything was fine, we received several chargebacks by customers who made purchases during that day that never received their goods or a refund because of stripe having technical difficultiesIf Stripe hadn't of had the technical difficulties they did, we would of never incurred any chargebacks because my accountant would of known to refund the transactions which makes stripe liable as it was THEIR fault the chargebacks were made.Sincerely,Jacob Jones

As the Complainant has submitted multiple Revdex.com complaints for the same issue, Stripe requests that the Revdex.com consolidate this complaint into complaint *** as they are from the same person

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/28) */
Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawOne of these constraints is that we cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged
cardDuring a routine review of the complainant's account on September 15th, 2015, it came to our attention that a number of the attempted charges appeared to be unauthorized by the owners of the related cards, and so we were obliged to stop processing payments and restrict manual refunds from this account
Stripe notified the complainant of these restrictions on September 15thDuring the following week we received a number of emails from the complainant providing additional information about the charges involvedWe reviewed all of the information provided and concluded that we would in fact be able to continue processing payments for their businessThis review was completed on September 28th, the duplicate charge for Elena Sverdlova was immediately refunded, and the complainant was informed that we would be able to continue processing payments as soon as they updated the URL associated with their account
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/09/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Company refunded money per our request
Once website is live we provide details to stripe to process cards in the future

Stripe regrets that they are not able to work with the complaint's business due to our risk tolerance policyThe standard response above adequately describes our policy, but unfortunately it did include an error about the contact date -- that was *** 20, ***In that notification, Stripe explained that it will use the reserved funds to pay for refundsAll charges on this account have been refunded and there is no outstanding balanceAs such, Stripe is not debiting from your bank bank account

Complaint: ***I am rejecting this response because:
I had submitted everything to stripe asking to be reviewed 8/1/before I processed any business because I had heard horror stories about companies like this doing the same thingI was working with *** over email 8/3/and submitted website and all requested review documentsHe informed me that "After speaking with my team, I can confirm that we are able to support your businessI know this was a concern but I am happy to say that you are good-to-go." He also confirmed that we could take payments including the first one of $9,a discount of $for a clientThis seems like deceptive business practices
.Sincerely,*** ***

On July 1st, Stripe reached out to the complainant requesting information to complete their identity
verificationStripe must verify all of our user's identities to stay in compliance with KYC, or Know Your Customer, regulations. With no response from the initial email, Stripe
sent another request for identity verification on July 11th. With no response to either email request and no additional verification information undated, transfers were disabled for security purposes
Complainant then wrote in on August 8thfor assistance providing information for verification. Stripe
responded on August 8th acknowledging the receipt of this emailThe account was updated by Stripe and a response was submitted to the complainant on August 10thThe response stated that the
information had been updated on the complainant's account and transfers had been resumed
Complainant acknowledged that initial communication had not been received due to a spam filter.
Stripe cannot be held responsible for communication not received due to spam

Each time a refund is issued or a dispute is open after the funds have been paid out to the merchant, Stripe pays for the insufficient funds -- which the merchant needs to reimburse.
The first dispute for $*** has been won by the complainant early ***As a result, the funds withheld by the credit card company was returned, as well as handling fee, to the complainant's Stripe account.
The second dispute for $*** still remains undecided while the credit card bank deliberatesIn the meantime, disputed funds for this charge plus handling fee are held against her Stripe accountThe outcome of this dispute will decide how the funds will be handledIf the complainant wins the dispute and if there is any positive balance in the Stripe balance, those funds will be deposited to her bank account

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/28) */
We notified the complainant that we would be shutting down their account on 21st July
After their request to migrate data, we responded on 24th July:
"Thanks for writing in and we apologize for the waitUnfortunately, due to the
high risk nature of your business we'll be unable to extend your transition periodWe'd love to be able to, but I'm afraid we're under very strict regulations
I can see that you've written in for help transferring customer data to your new service, and we'd be thrilled to help with this processFor PCI compliance reasons, we'll do this by talking directly with your new service to safely and securely move your data overWould you let us know what service you'll be working with so we can get started as soon as possible?"
After receiving details of two new payments processors the complainant wished us to migrate data to, we responded on 28th July and asked for confirmation on one payments processorWe are awaiting a reply
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/08/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/03) */
Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawAs a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of
ServiceAll users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms
Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise
During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardOn May 31st, 2015, Stripe reached out to the complainant to advise them of our decision and the closing of the account
The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceOur terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason"
https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination
While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/07/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Useless answer
Why the payment was disputed as "fraudulent", after payment was verified by STRIPE's system & merchandise was delivered ???
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/07/23) */
Stripe's primary function is to process payments; we do not guarantee against fraudAlthough we offer our merchants the option of auto-declines for charges that fail the zip code and CVC checks, this is not 100% fraud proof
As the merchant, you are in the best position to determine whether a charge is fraudulent or notYou should be very vigilant and try to minimize fraud by following our guide with preventative measures:
https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes
The charge here was disputed and ruled in favour of the cardholder as their bank decided that the charge was not authorized by the cardholder
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 13, 2015/07/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Why the payment was disputed as "fraudulent", after payment was verified by STRIPE's system & merchandise was delivered ???
This means STRIPE doesn't provide the relevant service they promised